Emergency work underway at Loveland wastewater treatment plant

South Boise Avenue will likely be closed for at least another week

By Jessica Maher

Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
06/08/2014 06:02:07 PM MDT

Chris Pletcher of Ayres Associates, front, looks Friday at emergency sewer line work at the Loveland Wastewater Treatment Plant with city utilities manager Chris Matkins. A section of the largest wastewater line in the city will be replaced after heavy rains in May caused a partial collapse of the pipe. (Jessica Maher / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

After avoiding a near-catastrophe at the Loveland wastewater treatment plant, crews are expected to continue emergency work this week to repair critical pipelines.

The biggest problem is with a 33-inch diameter concrete pipe just upstream from the wastewater treatment intake structure at 920 S. Boise Ave. Carrying more than 4 million gallons of wastewater each day to the plant, the pipe is the single largest wastewater line in the city in terms of flow, Loveland Water and Power utilities manager Chris Matkins said.

Following the May 23 rainfall event that wreaked havoc on the city's drainage system, flooded basements and temporarily closed roads, wastewater treatment plant staff noticed the partial collapse of the large pipe.

"During the heavy rainfall, our system saw a huge surge in wastewater flows," Matkins said. "There was a lot of water pressure and forces that exposed some of our pipes and pumps to conditions they don't normally see."

But Matkins said the situation was fortuitous in a few ways. Wastewater was still able to flow through the damaged pipe, and staff caught the situation just in time.

A complete collapse could have poured tens of thousands of gallons of untreated sewage into the Big Thompson River.

"We're lucky it didn't totally cave in," Matkins said. "That would have been a much more serious situation."

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Starting last week, South Boise Avenue was closed and an emergency repair project was initiated with city staff and contractor Connell Resources. The project will replace 100 feet of the 33-inch diameter concrete pipe with PVC pipe that shouldn't corrode as easily.

But plant operators have had their hands full dealing with the sand, gravel and rocks that were washed into the plant during the partial collapse and jammed up equipment.

"It's just been trying to keep everything flowing in the right direction," lead operator Cindi Rutledge said.

With the section of line taken out of service for repairs, eight bypass pumps have been set up to reroute the sewage into the intake structure. To monitor the pumps and expected higher flows, 24-hour crews were set up during the weekend, Loveland Water and Power construction coordinator Craig Weinland said.

The South Boise Avenue closure will likely remain in effect for at least another week.

"We started thinking that we could do it in a week, but we've run into a few surprises along the way," Weinland said.

One of those surprises was the 24-inch line that runs alongside the 33-inch. Once the digging started to expose the larger line, crews determined that the 24-inch was also damaged.

"That one has shown some joint damage that has compromised the integrity," Matkins said. "We're evaluating it to see if it makes sense to replace it at the same time."

Loveland Water and Power initiated an emergency project during the September 2013 flood, but the danger associated with this recent issue — raw sewage — caused more problems for the wastewater treatment plant inlet structure, Rutledge said.

Sewer lift stations also saw significant increases in flow during the May 23 rain event, but Matkins said there was no significant damage.

At last week's City Council meeting, Loveland Fire Rescue Authority Capt. Pat Mialy provided an update to the rain event, which dropped 4 inches of rain over two hours in some areas of the city.

Residents who were severely impacted by the storm should contact 211 for resources, she said, to help deal with an event that insurance carriers have categorized as a flood.

"While the rain event was not a true emergency, it certainly was a significant event for our community," she said.